Space Pirate in Creative Cities – or the Story of Appsterdam [video]
This funny short story explains how Amsterdam became ‘Appsterdam’, the worldwide capital for app makers.
When the best areas of cities known to be creative and somewhat leading in a specific discipline start to disappear, Interpol HQ seems to have been mystified. Berlin, Taipei, Shanghai, Paris, Austin, London, Munich, Vancouver and many more cities are missing key areas, they lack their specific charme. It turns out, that a Space Pirate (played by the founder of Appsterdam, Mike Lee) is collecting extraordinary qualities of all these cities to combine them into one. To stop the Space Pirate, Interpol understands that only “by observing the past we can predict the future and apprehend the present.”
Finally, the Space Pirate admits that his plans don’t work out: “it’s sitting there lifeless like Frankenstein’s monster. I’ve been waiting for the lightening to bring it alive…” What is missing in the combination of all these great places is the feeling of home.
“The Dutch they even have a word for this, they call it gezellig. [...] It’s hard to explain, but when you feel comfortable, when you feel like you can relaxed, you feel cozy…”
Mike Lee in ‘Space Pirate in creative cities’ (screen shot from Youtube)
The real Story of Appsterdam
“What if we could take the best part of the Valley [Silicon Valley] — everyone together at the same table — and move it to a better environment?” - Mike Lee
The former Apple employee from California who calls himself ‘the world’s toughest programmer’, spent a year traveling when he came to the conclusion “that Amsterdam was the most livable city in the world.”
“Over the ‘Summer of Appsterdam’ [2011] we used a series of initiatives to organize the community into the world’s most advanced infrastructure for App Makers, by App Makers, making Amsterdam the best city in the world to be an App Maker.” – Mike Lee in Appstorm
Amongst other qualities, Mike Lee especially highlights the easy visa requirements of the Netherlands as a factor contributing to Appsterdam’s success. To make it even easier for app makers to join the community, Appsterdam has special groups of volunteers set up to help document immigration processes, pick visitors up at the airport and host visitors to Amsterdam, apart from many exciting Meetups and Events for both, app makers and their families, to choose from every week.
What are you waiting for? Come to Appsterdam and see it with your own eyes!
If you want to make movies, go to Hollywood. If you want to make musicals, go to Broadway.
If you want to make apps, go to Appsterdam. (quote: Mike Lee, image: Youtube)
About Christina Franken
113 points
is a German architect who doesn't do buildings. She's a Social Designer in love with New Media / Mobile technologies and currently based in Amsterdam“ an ever changing urban playground. Find out what is going on in the design &...
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